Wednesday, September 26, 2012

busily sorting through long packed away pieces to be washed and re-used once again, buying a few new fresh itty bitty bits..

taking some pretty pieces off the shop shelves and keeping them for myself...

moving furniture out, cleaning up others and bringing them in...

its still ages away, and the whole room needs re-painting after the little guys' boisterous and somewhat artistic endeavours during his time in there, so I'm getting a bit ahead of myself really, but I can't help it!

I haven't been able to stop myself nesting this week. We received our long awaited results which were all good news and music to both heart and soul..

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

How do you put an old head on young shoulders, I know I can't, but I wish I could.

One of our boys came home from school on Friday, holding it together just long enough to get through the door before he burst into tears. It's been going on for some time, one particular child who knows just what to say, to have those words hit right where it hurts most.

Actually, his problem isn't directly with our boy, well it never used to be as they'd always been friends. He constantly picks on another whom our boy is good friends with. He'll regularly target this boy and try to get others to do the same. It's always been verbal and mental bullying before. I've been concerned for this boy and wondered if his parents are aware of what their son is dealing with each day.

Gradually the bully has turned against our boy because he refuses to stop being this other child's friend. He's tried to talk to him, to work out their differences, but it goes nowhere. I've always been grateful that our son comes home and tells us about it though we are trusted to never, ever say anything to anyone about it ever!

He wants to deal with it himself, and so we listen, we give advice, and we help him to deal with the constant antagonising. There have been several times when I've decided that enough was enough, and we as parents need to intervene, but he refuses, and I don't want to loose his trust. I don't want him to stop talking to us about things, at least we know what's going on, right?

On Friday though, this bully called upon another child whom our son refuses to name, and together they had our son on the ground and kicked him repeatedly, somehow not hard enough to bruise him physically, but that's not the point.

When they stopped and our son asked why they were doing this, the bully said its because he's still friends with the other boy. We are shocked that this happened. Shocked that it turned physical. And so, so angry.

We know the only thing to do is to intervene, but he begged and pleaded through tears that we don't, that he can handle it, that we've taught him resilience and he can take it! Resilience. This is what we teach our children. How do we teach them not to be frightened of doing the right thing and reporting it, that it won't stop until he does?

We've tried our best to assure him that as soon as we bring all of this to the attention of the school and/or the child's parents it will stop. He told us that we have to understand if we report this he won't have a single friend as a result, and he doesn't want to risk that.

What do you do, break his trust, risk alienating him, have him withdraw and never open up to us again? I hate this. I hate seeing him so stressed at bedtimes, regular sleepless nights, frustration building at home until he explodes, his belief in himself and his decisions compromised. None of this is ok, and we can't allow it to continue, but dealing with it is going to be one very delicate task.

We've commended him on his extraordinary courage, told him how proud of him we are that his reason for not defending himself and fighting back is because he says two wrongs don't make a right. What we also need him to understand is that sometimes it also takes great courage to be brave and to report an incident like this. He went to bed, tears rolling onto his pillow as he ponders that..

Thursday, September 20, 2012

I've come to a creative dead end of late, loads of ideas but nothing I could start right away as I'm waiting to stumble upon just the right materials during my thrifty travels, but even those have been few and far between...

so a little project was in order to keep my hands busy at night time, to give me a little something fun to focus on, to unwind, and to keep all those busy thoughts jumbling about up there at bay.

I decided to make another summer cotton rug. I really just imagined 4 basic colours, beige, grey, navy and cream but I can't find a navy cotton anywhere, so here's hoping that peachy colour will blend in the way I'd like.

It's always nice to have a little something on the go, I think, therapeutic even...

Monday, September 17, 2012

It started as one of those mornings where everything coasts along, everyone does their thing and you think you're travelling well.

A load of washing out to dry, brekky dishes done, lunches packed, when suddenly, just as the big boy heads out the door to ride himself to school, he says...

"Bye Mum! Oh, and by the way, do you think you could just pick up an exercise book on your way to school because I need it first thing this morning.."

This might have been nice to know on Friday! I was in a good mind to say he'd have to make do, but I knew this would have all kinds of snowball effects so just gave a stern talking to and said I'd drop it in to his class before 9.

Then as we're bustling out the door the middle guy strips off his dressing gown to reveal his shorts and t.shirt, no school jumper and 8 degrees outside!

"Where is your jumper?" I patiently ask. His reply with a shoulder shrug "I don't know, at school somewhere..."

So after the emergency stop off at the newsagent for the all important exercise book, we're straight into the stinky lost property box at school. No sign of his jumper but I come out with an armful of other kids jumpers I pass over to grateful parents on my way to find my own freezing child, who doesn't seem too fazed at all.

That is until the bell goes. He lines up and suddenly says, panic stricken.."Mum, you didn't put my costume for the dress rehearsal in my bag!!!!"

Ididn't put it in because I didn't know about it because youdidn't bring home your diary (again) for me to read that note! Was what I wanted to say, but didn't in front of his entire class. Again, I considered telling him he'd have to go without, but didn't think that fair on the poor music teacher desperately trying to co-ordinate over 500 kids for the school concert this Thursday night.

So home I dash to grab his costume, back to his class, where he sits wearing his missing jacket. Miracles can happen! Just out of curiosity, I grab the diary off his table to see that note I'd missed and what do you know, it says..

'FULL DRESS REHEARSAL FOR PREP TO GRADE TWO'.

Bugger! The little guy needs his costume too. I can just imagine his panic as his teacher at this very moment would be asking all the children to bring their costumes in and put them on their tables.

Madly, I dash home again, grab his costume and race back to school. I tell you, walking back up that hill to the car again is certainly taking it's toll by now! I've clearly been slack and lost some fitness with this little bubba growing, and I'm reminded to get myself back into walking with this pregnant belly of mine weighing me down more than it should be.

But you know what, as annoyed as I was at all the running back and forth and the disorganisation of this morning, seeing the sheer relief on all three of those little faces made me smile.

I was grateful that I could do all this running about, and grateful that they could rely on me. Though there will be some serious discussion this evening about preparation and responsibility, I can assure you!

Saturday, September 15, 2012

with so many changes going on around here, the new business, the new baby on the way, I've not been too busy in the 'making department'. I decided it best to take a little break from building up Loved Handmade and just taking the odd order here and there and moving current items...

however, I've been re-inspired to continue making one of my favourites. After seeing Kellie and several other lovely ladies sporting my wears recently, it reminded me of how I love this one, and how great it always looks on. It's such a pleasure to see, and so I'm going to continue the makings of my most loved piece, the cotton crocheted necklace...

I adore this piece so much, and I love wearing mine. This is where loved handmade began and has been my most popular store item ever since!

It's a favourite to make too, sitting and crocheting those pretty dainty discs, hand stitching each of them to the chain, along with the shell button detail ends. How could I not continue making these beauties!

So, although there may not be loads of other loved pieces in my store just for the moment, and due to the many lovely requests, this one will be a stayer!

Thursday, September 13, 2012

My creative space this last week has been a whole lot of trial and (mostly) error in the kitchen...

Our middle guy has finally had his official allergy testing and let me just say 'overwhelmed' is a massive understatement for this mama and papa!

It seems he has several intolerance's, however, the majority of us do, we just don't know about it. By the end of his appointment we were convinced the 'air' diet might be our only option!

However, after lots of discussion and minor freakouts we were able to break it down. The majority of his intolerance's are fairly minor, not ideal but not necessarily the cause of his problems. The key things we need to avoid are wheat, yeast and dairy. In order to break down the yeast build up in his system which is really the core of his ailments, we also need to eliminate sugar as this is what feeds the yeast, therefore making it very difficult for his body to digest any other nutrients.

In the scheme of things, this was much easier for us to process and work with, though let me tell you I have been completely blown away by the fact that EVERYTHING we purchase has either yeast or sugar no matter how healthy it's supposed to be.

This has been a week of stripping back to raw basics. Our kids don't usually get to have a whole lot of sugary treats anyway, or so we thought. Lunch box treats are home made, the odd fizzy on a special occasion, an ice-cream or lolly at the weekend. So, although these things weren't readily available to them everyday it has been quiet a challenge to eliminate them completely.

For the next 6-8 weeks we are doing everything from scratch, including making our own stock as there is nothing I can find in stores that doesn't contain yeast extract. So far, we've created some very ugly and not very tasty disasters, but we're getting better, and today I made cake and some pretty good looking muffins which have been a bit of a hit, YAY!

It's certainly a great relief to know just what have been the causes of these tummy troubles. The best part is, and I praise him everyday for his incredible attitude, our middle guy is taking this all in his stride and being very matter of fact about it. Bless his little heart!